Vlaeminck: This World Cup means a lot more

05 Sep 2024 Tayla Vlaeminck

After a torrid run of injuries, fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck shares her emotional response to being named in Australia's T20 World Cup squad

It’s been almost six years since my last World Cup, and there’s still nothing quite like getting that phone call telling you you're in the squad.

That call from Flegs – our selector, Shawn Flegler – has been a long time coming and it's a really nice feeling.

The last three months I’ve spent training in Brisbane have all been directed at getting to this tournament, and really, the last two or three years in general, going through endless hours of rehab thinking, "Imagine if one day I could get back into a World Cup squad".

Every squad for the 2024 women's T20 World Cup

But even though I was training for it, when I heard it had actually happened, I had to take a moment just to sit back. I couldn't really believe it.

I was on our Renegades' Big Bash roadshow in Echuca when the call came, sitting in the car eating breakfast, and I had to quickly finish a mouthful to answer.

I rang my parents straightaway to tell them the news, and by the time I went home that night, back to their place in Bendigo, I walked in the door and they were already searching for flights to Dubai.

It feels so different to the first time. When I was selected for the 2018 T20 World Cup in the West Indies, I hadn’t even debuted for Australia yet.

Tayla Vlaeminck made her T20 debut during the 2018 World Cup // Getty

That tour was one of my first experiences around the Aussie squad and I was just super pumped to be going to a World Cup, but I probably didn't appreciate how special it is and how rare they actually are.

This one means a lot more. The work that has gone in behind the scenes and the hard hours of rehab with this as the goal and to finally – touch wood – be in that squad and hopefully be able to contribute to a World Cup, it’s a really cool feeling.

I’ve changed a lot since then. I still have that same energy and love for the game, but I’m a little bit smarter about how I go about it now and just a little more mature.

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When I came back into the Aussie side in Bangladesh in March, it probably wasn't in the most ideal circumstances. We couldn’t leave the hotel or do a lot, but it was still one of my favourite tours I've ever been on. I've got a much bigger appreciation now for how much I actually love being around the girls.

Knowing Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham are going to the World Cup with me makes it even more special.

We were housemates and all new to the team when we won in 2018 together and it probably sounds bad to say, but when you win a World Cup on your second tour in Australian colours, and there's the three of us, you just think that's how it is. We thought if we’ve all got one at 18, 19 years old, we’ll probably have 10 by the time we're 23.

Friends, housemates, world champions: Vlaeminck, Wareham and Molineux in 2018 // Getty

Obviously, that's not how it's played out for any of us.

To finally be able to go to another World Cup with two of my best friends, it’s going to be really cool.

I haven’t been to the UAE before – outside of travelling through Dubai Airport – and neither have many of the girls, but from what we hear, it’s a nice place to tour. They’re also going to be pretty foreign conditions for us, and for a lot of other teams as well.

We’re in a tough group – Alyssa Healy’s called it the "group of death" – with India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan. But when it comes to a World Cup, anything is on the cards, it's a completely different tournament.

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We’re all used to playing bilateral series, where you rock up play the same team over and over again, and you get to change things that don’t work and formulate new plans. That all goes out the window at a World Cup, and you just have to win. It puts a little bit more pressure on everyone, and it comes down to how teams can react to that. We've had a lot of experience in with that in the past and hopefully that'll hold us in good stead.

It's going to be a really close World Cup and if we want to make it four in a row, we're going to have to be playing our best cricket.

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Vlaeminck: This World Cup means a lot more

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Warm-up matches

Australia's Group A fixtures

Finals